Page 28 of Rescued

He wasn’t. “I’m willing to make my services available to you for a limited time.”

“I see.”

Switch wondered what it was Thanatos thought he saw. “But you have to get her clothes,” his mouth said.

“What’s wrong with what she has on?” Thanatos sounded testy now. He really did hate all things to do with women.

“Seriously?” Switch said. “You want her to wear leftover army fatigues and boots that are like clown shoes on her? Have a heart—oh, wait, you don’t have a heart. But for fuck’s sake, make an effort, here.”

Thanatos waved a hand as if to say, Whatever, just don’t bother me with it.

Gunn spoke up. “I’ll ask Mikey to stop and pick up a few things on her way back from Idaho, and we’ll put it on the expense report.” He turned to Breanna. “Write down your sizes for me, and I’ll text them to her.”

Switch’s mouth apparently wasn’t done. As long as he had Thanatos here… “And you have to get on Sanchez and those guys to fix my roof. And I’m not paying for my own electronic supplies anymore while I’m here.”

“You drive a hard bargain, Mr. Switch.”

Was that sarcasm? Did Thanatos do sarcasm? Did he have a sense of humor after all? Switch was pretty sure a sense of humor required a soul. But maybe not?

Thanatos said, “Azúcar, Gunn, attempt to persuade Mr. Sanchez to repair the roof of the guest cabin. And ensure that Mr. Switch has sufficient supplies to house a female.” Switch couldn’t see his lips, but he could hear the lip curl when Thanatos said female.

Switch looked from him to Sugar to Gunn. “I don’t suppose anyone’s going to try to get Sanchez to stop trying to burn down the cabin?”

Gunn said, “Maybe stop dropping wolf shit on him with your drones?”

Switch rolled his eyes. “Well, that’s never going to happen.”

He heard a tiny giggle-snort from Breanna. At least he’d made her laugh. She needed it.

He turned to her and said, “Come on, Doe-Eyes. I guess we’re both staying. For a little while, anyway.”

It was all fine until they got back to the guest cabin. Neither of them knew exactly what to say to each other, and that kiss from earlier seemed to hang in the air, sparkling with sex hormones and making them both uncomfortable.

Breanna looked down at the floor, then out the window. Definitely not at him. “So, what happens now?” she said. “I mean, we’re sharing this place. And you don’t really fit on the couch, so…”

Was that an invitation? Or more like resignation, because she thought that’s what he was going to ask for, as payment for looking after her?

Was that what she was used to? It made him angry. At her or at the world or at the other assholes in it, he wasn’t sure. Or maybe just because that’s what she thought of him.

“What, just because I accidentally kissed you, you think I’m going to make you fuck me now? Or is that part of the whole doe eyes thing? So I’ll help you?”

“No!” she said. “I mean, I thought you liked me.”

“I do like you,” he said. “When you’re not annoying me. And you’re beautiful, obviously. But I do my rescue work pro bono. I sure as fuck don’t do it to get paid in sex.”

She flushed dark red and said resentfully, “Well, you’re the first I’ve met.”

Dammit, how come it was so easy for her to make him feel like shit? Even when he was being a gentleman and not a dick?

He looked at her, standing there, how vulnerable she was. A human in the middle of a compound of wolves—male wolves—with nothing but her attitude and her doe eyes to protect her. Nothing else to fight back with when life kicked her in the teeth.

People used what they had—and she thought her looks were all she had.

He suddenly had the urge to take her in his arms, wrap her up and protect her. But that was a bad idea. And it would only put them back where they had been a minute ago.

He tentatively touched her shoulder instead. “Hey. People do what they have to do, to survive. You just don’t have to do it here, okay?”

He could feel the warmth of her skin through the too-big khaki sweatshirt, and her scent filled his nose, sweet and tantalizing. But she wasn’t for him.